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The Four Apostles is a panel painting by the German Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer. It was finished in 1526, and is the last of his large works. It depicts the four apostles larger-than-life-size. The painting is quite important as it was a donation from Dürer himself, given the custom of donating to the town hall in Italy, as well as being the last paintings he ever made.

Subject
Despite being called the Four Apostles, the painting itself actually only features three as St. Mark was considered to be a disciple rather than a full on Apostle, being St. Peter's disciple specifically. It was more accurate then to call the work The Four Holy Men given that St. Mark was still an Evangelist like St. John.

Description
When Dürer moved back to Nuremberg he produced many famous paintings there, including several self-portraits. He gave The Four Apostles to the town council. Saints John and Peter appear in the left panel; the figures in the right panel are Saints Mark and Paul. Mark and Paul both hold Bibles, and John and Peter are shown reading from the opening page of John's own Gospel. At the bottom of each panel, quotations from the Bible are inscribed.

The apostles are recognizable by their symbols:


 * St. John the Evangelist: open book
 * St. Peter: keys
 * St. Mark: scroll
 * St. Paul: sword and closed book

They are also associated with the four temperaments.


 * St. John: sanguine
 * St. Peter: phlegmatic
 * St. Mark: choleric
 * St. Paul: melancholy

Historical context
The Four Apostles was created during the Reformation, begun in 1517 and having the largest initial impact on Germany. As it was a Protestant belief that icons were contradictory to the Word of God, which was held in the utmost supremacy over Protestant ideas, the Protestant church was not a patron of any sacred art. Therefore, any Protestant artist, like Dürer became, had to commission their own works. Many aspects of the image depicted prove significant in light of the Reformation itself. This painting has had many speculations as to the intentions, one being that it was Dürer's way of creating a sort of legacy piece by creating what he considered to be a worthy piece. . Another possibility however, was that it was a message that Dürer wanted to send in regards to be on guard against so called "false prophets". The inscription on the bottom lends credence to this idea; "All worldly rulers in these dangerous times should give good heed that they receive not human misguidance for the Word of God, for God will have nothing added to His Word nor taken away from it. Here therefore these four excellent men, Peter, John, Paul, and Mark and their warning.".

Conservation
Since 1526, the paintings were kept within Nuremberg until 1627 where it was sold to Maximilian I as a result of threats of repression. He would have the inscriptions on the bottom of the paintings sawn off due to the inscriptions being heretical in nature while also causing issues to his position. The work is currently kept in the care of Munich, within Alte Pinakothek since 1922 when the city handed the paintings over, and the inscriptions had been rejoined to complete their restoration. Nuremberg has since tried to retrieve the painting, but attempts have thus far been unsuccessful.